Reverse a string in Python

Question

There is no built in reverse function for Python\'s str object. What is the best way of implementing this method?

If supplying a very conci

Answer 1

This class uses python magic functions to reverse a string:

class Reverse(object):
    """ Builds a reverse method using magic methods """

    def __init__(self, data):
        self.data = data
        self.index = len(data)


    def __iter__(self):
        return self

    def __next__(self):
        if self.index == 0:
            raise StopIteration

        self.index = self.index - 1
        return self.data[self.index]


REV_INSTANCE = Reverse('hello world')

iter(REV_INSTANCE)

rev_str = ''
for char in REV_INSTANCE:
    rev_str += char

print(rev_str)  

Output

dlrow olleh

Reference

Answer 2

The existing answers are only correct if Unicode Modifiers / grapheme clusters are ignored. I'll deal with that later, but first have a look at the speed of some reversal algorithms:

list_comprehension  : min:   0.6μs, mean:   0.6μs, max:    2.2μs
reverse_func        : min:   1.9μs, mean:   2.0μs, max:    7.9μs
reverse_reduce      : min:   5.7μs, mean:   5.9μs, max:   10.2μs
reverse_loop        : min:   3.0μs, mean:   3.1μs, max:    6.8μs

list_comprehension  : min:   4.2μs, mean:   4.5μs, max:   31.7μs
reverse_func        : min:  75.4μs, mean:  76.6μs, max:  109.5μs
reverse_reduce      : min: 749.2μs, mean: 882.4μs, max: 2310.4μs
reverse_loop        : min: 469.7μs, mean: 577.2μs, max: 1227.6μs

You can see that the time for the list comprehension (reversed = string[::-1]) is in all cases by far the lowest (even after fixing my typo).

String Reversal

If you really want to reverse a string in the common sense, it is WAY more complicated. For example, take the following string (brown finger pointing left, yellow finger pointing up). Those are two graphemes, but 3 unicode code points. The additional one is a skin modifier.

example = "                                                                    

                                                        
            

Answer 3

Reverse a string in python without using reversed() or [::-1]

def reverse(test):
    n = len(test)
    x=""
    for i in range(n-1,-1,-1):
        x += test[i]
    return x

Answer 4

To solve this in programing way for interview

def reverse_a_string(string: str) -> str:
    """
    This method is used to reverse a string.
    Args:
        string: a string to reverse

    Returns: a reversed string
    """
    if type(string) != str:
        raise TypeError("{0} This not a string, Please provide a string!".format(type(string)))
    string_place_holder = ""
    start = 0
    end = len(string) - 1
    if end >= 1:
        while start <= end:
            string_place_holder = string_place_holder + string[end]
            end -= 1
        return string_place_holder
    else:
        return string


a = "hello world"
rev = reverse_a_string(a)
print(rev)

Output:

dlrow olleh